Help! I added too many campden tablets.

[dietz_james]

I have been brewing beer for years, but I just got my first wine kit for my birthday. I was told by a friend to add 1 campden tablet per gallon to my wine, but I forgot that the kit already had some sulfer in it. As a result I have about 1.8 grams extra sodium metabisulfate. What should I do to save my wine?

 

[sholomy]

add more wine?

 

[GreginND]

Can you taste it?

 

[TonyP]

I have been brewing beer for years, but I just got my first wine kit for my birthday. I was told by a friend to add 1 campden tablet per gallon to my wine, but I forgot that the kit already had some sulfer in it. As a result I have about 1.8 grams extra sodium metabisulfate. What should I do to save my wine?

Your wine has been saved; in fact, its been saved too much. The Campden Tablet addition was probably done for aging, at least I assume so. The SO2 created by the tablets will dissipate over time. If you want to accelerate the process, there's 3 things you can do, 2 of which I suggest you try. One is to add wine (suggested above) which will dilute SO2. In all likelihood, though, you probably don't have space.

The second thing you can do is aerate the wine, generally avoided but not so here. Aerating will reduce free SO2, assuming its not saturated. One way to do it is to rack the wine into a second carboy or primary bucket, but rack through a funnel instead of directly to the bottom.

Remember though, that the wine will be fine by itself if you leave it alone. long enough.

Tony P.

 

[cpfan]

dietz_james:

Which wine kit are you making?

Also where are you in the process? Before pitching the yeast? After adding the additives (ie stabilizing and clearing agents)? Ready to bottle?

(Adding campden at one of those steps is actually a reasonable move. Although I think you added too much.)

Finally, hope you learned not to listen to friends.

The more info that you provide, the more help we can give you.

Steve

 

[dietz_james]

Thanks for the help and suggestions. I was at the bottling stage, so I went ahead and finished bottling it while I decided what to do.

The kit is a Vintner's Reserve Burgundy Coastal Red wine. They recommended adding 1/4 tsp (1.5 grams) sodium metabisulfate at bottling time if aging more than six months, and I added about 2.3 grams (1 campden tablet per gallon) on accident.

Midwest Homebrew said the kit typically uses low levels of sodium metabisulfate compared to commercial wine and thinks the levels should be within acceptable levels. I kind of panicked because I could smell and taste the sulfur. They recommended I wait a few weeks and then try some, and said some sulfur smell / taste is normal after adding it. If it still smells or tastes like sulfur in a few weeks they recommended as you all did, putting it back in the carboy for a while or splash racking it.

I am impatient, but I will wait and let you know how it turns out in a few weeks and see how it is doing then. Fortunately I have lots if homebrew, mead and cider to occupy my taste buds until then.

 

[Arne]

If you still think it is strong when you open the bottle, let it breathe a bit then check again. It is liable to air out with an hour or two of being open. Arne.

 

[dietz_james]

I just opened up the first bottle, and it tastes fine. The sulfur taste has completely dissipated. That's what I get for being impatient.

I can't wait to see how it tastes after it has been bottled a full month or two!